Talk:Equestria Games/@comment-4742142-20140504210631
I don't know about you guys, but I thought the episode worked. I believe for those that had their hopes up too much for more emphasis on the games itself, I can see how some may be disappointed. Too much hype on something can end up disappointing over delivering. Even though "Equestria Games" didn't show a great deal of the actual games itself, I thought for 22 minutes, it was a well-balanced episode. Once again, I thought Rainbow Dash was very-well characterized in the episode and has really matured recently, while still maintaining her coolness. I enjoyed the sportsmanship between Dash and Spitfire. I was also happy see the CMCs here and had more of a presence than expected. Pinkie Pie was also done well here, as Polsky has done a fine job in the past with her characterization. "Nailed it!!!!" Finally -- Spike. One thing I loved was seeing him interact with Cadance and Shining Armor, which we've not really not seen a lot of. I want to see some more of that in the future. I have to say it's really cool that the Crystal Empire remembered what Spike did in Season Three and for him to get recognized for his accomplishment, even if he didn't feel that all the praise in the world meant nothing to him. We saw him struggle with stage fright, nervousness, lack of confidence, and more of him being insecure. I may have said this in the past, but to me, Spike is the most "human" of all the main characters of FIM, and he's easily the character I relate to the most. I loved the appearance of him being the "lighter" again, a bit of a throwback from "Apple Family Reunion". As for the song, during my first view of the episode, honestly, I cringed annoyingly, but I listened to the entire performance. When I heard that Spike was going to sing, I was looking forward to the performance. Then, when I learned that he'd be singing Cloudsdale's Anthem, I was thinking, "uh-oh, this will not go well." This wasn't the first time we've heard Spike sing in the show. We heard him sing some parts in two musical numbers in "The Crystal Empire", and some short non-numbers in "Just for Sidekicks" and "Spike at Your Service," and he definitely can sing well. The problem here is that he didn't know the song in this episode, and he ended up ad-libbing or improvising the lyrics. Had I not listened to the song a second time, my review for the episode would have been more negative. The second time, it wasn't painful. I was more amused. I do hope, though, that this doesn't mean that he'll be excluded in musical numbers entirely for the remainder of the series. As for the end, it was sweet to see him save the day again, and holy cow -- that fire breath! That scene was well-done, and the comical element with the "rain" falling -- loved it! One more thing I want to point out is Twilight. It was good to see her and Spike interact in this one and to support him. We've not seen much of that this season, and that was one of the things that was severely lacking. Overall, I really thought this was a great episode, and definitely in the top-tier of the season, and it really had a really good lesson. This and "Inspiration Manifestation" were definitely improvements over the Spike episodes from Season Three. I don't know what's going to happen with the season finale, but I do hope that the writers continue to explore this character more between now and later seasons. Great performance, Mr. The Dragon! Also, thank you, Mr. Polsky for this episode. I would have wondered what SAYS would have been like, had Merriwether Williams not redid that episode.